
The G5 Sahel countries—Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger—will organize elections in 2020 and 2021. These elections will take place in a context in which all are facing serious humanitarian and securities challenges, aggravated by the fragility of their institutions. The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and its socioeconomic impacts worsen the situation and even raise questions about the possibility to organize elections in so volatile an environment.
This Guide has been developed to assist decision-makers and practitioners in this context.

Contents
Introduction
1. Changing power dynamics
2. Non-state armed actors
3. Organized crime
4. Socio-economic conditions
5. Human rights violations
6. Social and political exclusion
7. Farmers, herders and climate change
References and further reading